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List of world champions in NJPW born outside Japan

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The following is a list of world champions in NPJW born outside Japan, detailing all wrestlers born outside that country to have held a world championship in the Japanese-based professional wrestling company, New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

NJPW has three active world championships: IWGP World Heavyweight Championship for the men's division; IWGP Women's Championship and Strong Women's Championship for the women's division. Previous world championships promoted by NJPW include the original version of IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1983–1987), the IGP version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (2007–2008) and IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1987–2021; unified with IWGP Intercontinental Championship to form the current IWGP world title).

Male champions

[edit]
Ring name Real name Title(s) Reign(s) Notes Ref
United States Big Van Vader Leon White IWGP Heavyweight Championship 3 Foreign male wrestler with the most world titles in NJPW (tied with Riki Choshu). [1]
South Korea Riki Choshu Mitsuo Yoshida IWGP Heavyweight Championship 3 Foreign male wrestler with the most world titles in NJPW (tied with Big Van Vader). [2]
New Zealand Jay White James White IWGP Heavyweight Championship
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship 		2 [3]
United States AJ Styles Allen Jones IWGP Heavyweight Championship 2 [4]
United States Scott Norton IWGP Heavyweight Championship 2 [5]
United States Hulk Hogan Terry Bollea IWGP Heavyweight Championship 1 He won the 1983–1987 version of the title. [6]
United States Brock Lesnar IWGP Heavyweight Championship 1 During his reign, he refusing to return and defend the title, claiming he was owed money by NJPW. Lesnar kept the physical championship belt, and later was recognized by the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) as their first champion, using the same belt. [7]
United States Kurt Angle IWGP Heavyweight Championship 1 He won the IGF version of the championship. During his reign, the title was known in TNA (the company Angle was affiliated with) as the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. [8]
Canada Kenny Omega Tyson Smith IWGP Heavyweight Championship 1 [9]
United States Jon Moxley Jonathan David Good IWGP World Heavyweight Championship 1 [10]
United States Bob Sapp Robert Malcolm Sapp IWGP Heavyweight Championship 1 [11]
Russia Salman Hashimikov IWGP Heavyweight Championship 1 [12]
United Kingdom Zack Sabre Jr. Luke Uggles IWGP World Heavyweight Championship 1 [13]
United Kingdom Will Ospreay IWGP World Heavyweight Championship 1 [14]

Female champions

[edit]
Ring name Real name Title(s) Reign(s) Notes Ref
United States Mercedes Moné Mercedes Kaestner Varnado IWGP Women's Championship
Strong Women's Championship 		2 Foreign female wrestler with the most world titles in NJPW. [15]
Chile Stephanie Vaquer Strong Women's Championship 1 During her reign, she also held the CMLL World Women's Championship. [16]
United States Willow Nightingale Danielle Paultre Strong Women's Championship 1 [17]

By country

[edit]
Rank Territory No. of world champions
1 United States 10
2 United Kingdom 2
3 Canada 1
Chile
New Zealand
Russia
South Korea

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Big Van Vader | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  2. ^ "Riki Choshu | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  3. ^ "Jay White | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  4. ^ "AJ Styles | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  5. ^ "Scott Norton | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  6. ^ "Hulk Hogan | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  7. ^ "Brock Lesnar | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  8. ^ "Kurt Angle | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  9. ^ "Kenny Omega | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  10. ^ "Jon Moxley | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  11. ^ "Bob Sapp | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  12. ^ "Salma Hashimikov | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  13. ^ "Zack Sabre Jr. | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  14. ^ "Will Ospreay | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  15. ^ "Mercedes Moné | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  16. ^ "Stephanie Vaquer | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  17. ^ "Willow Nightingale | Titles and reigns". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
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